Giving Players a peek behind the DM screen

[airwalkrr]

My players are whiny. I've become accustomed to using printed adventures and having to point out stuff is actually in the adventure just to "prove" to the players that the game is fair. My group really isn't ideal right now, but it's all I have.

*sigh*

 

[Nagol]

What do you think? Assuming you don’t fudge:

As a DM, do you occasionally give the Players a peek or explanation of what happened behind the screen?

As a Player, do you like a DM to occasionally give you a peek or explanation of what happened behind the screen?

Would you have shown the Players the map of the escape door, as I did? Or would you not have?

If you were a Player in my group during that game session, would you appreciate the peek at the map for that purpose, or was it unnecessary? Was it detrimental in some way?

Bullgrit

As a DM I'm willing to share some information with the players OOC after the fact -- particularly reasons for odd tactics, alliance shifts, or seemingly odd NPC behaviour. I think this helps the players remain grounded in what the typical behaviour sets are in my world so they can notice oddities for investigation.

Typically at the end of a campaign, I'll have a question-answer session for the players to ask any unanswered questions.

As a player, as infrequently as that occurs , I appreciate similar peeks behind the screen. It helps buld a common understanding of how and why NPCs behave as they do.

I probably would have shown the map. It sounds like an important trust-building moment. You sold the players on how you played without fudging, etc. and events conspired to give your players a seemingly miraculous out. Pulling back the screen returned a sense of accomplshment they lost as they lost respect for you "saving" them.

If I were a player in this specific event, I would have appreciated the gesture for what is was: a trust-building exercise to cement the new gaming relationhip.